Apaches dominate Clarksville 69-21CLARKSVILLE -- The Pottsville Apaches thundered past the Clarksville Panthers 69-21 on Tuesday. Pottsville (5-1) led 14-6 after the first quarter and 30-14 at halftime. After the third quarter, the Apaches were up 53-19. "We did a great job defensively, and we found the open man on the offensive end," Pottsville head coach Shane Thurman said. "Another bright spot was how well our reserves played. This was a total team effort." Pottsville was l...

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BY TRAVIS SIMPSON
sports@couriernews.comThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Russellville basketball teams lose at ViloniaVILONIA -- The Russellville Cyclones kept it close through the first half, but fell 70-55 to the Vilonia Eagles on Tuesday. The lead changed five times in the second quarter. Ryan Sitkowski's layup with 3:26 left in the second put Russellville up 27-26, but that was the Cyclones' final lead. Vilonia went on a 9-2 run in the third quarter and put the game out of reach, although Russellville cut the deficit to nine at 7:38 in the fourth quarter ...

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BY TRAVIS SIMPSON
sports@couriernews.comThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Lady Pirates beat Haas HallFAYETTEVILLE -- The Dover Lady Pirates picked up a 54-36 win over Haas Hall Academy recently. Dover led 22-9 after the first quarter and 30-18 at halftime. The Lady Pirates led 41-27 at halftime. "We had a quick start, stalled some in the middle but finished strong," head coach Charlie Melton said. "Very proud of these girls. This was a long trip." Dover was led by Ashley Reichert with 27 points. Madison McCabe had eight points. Rylie Wheeler ...

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Courier sports staffThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

AVCA names Bayer Region Coach of the Year, honors othersArkansas Tech volleyball claimed three more All-Region honors on Wednesday, as the American Volleyball Coaches Association announced its Division II Regional Awards. Head Coach Kristy Bayer earned Central Region Coach of the Year, Lexie Johnston was named Region Freshman of the Year, and Amanda Milnick joined Johnston on the All-Central Region Team. Bayer led the Golden Suns to both the Great American Conference regular season and tournament c...

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ATU Athletic CommunicationsThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Golden Suns climb to 19th in national pollThe Arkansas Tech University women's basketball team is reaping the rewards of its productive 2017-18 season start as the Golden Suns climbed two spots into 19th place in the D2SIDA NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Media National Week 2 Poll, which was released Tuesday. Arkansas Tech, which is currently 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the Great American Conference (GAC) this season, received 112 points in D2SIDA's Week 2 Poll after totaling a 21st-p...

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ATU Athletic CommunicationsThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Sand Lizards defeat CedarvilleSCRANTON -- The Dardanelle Sand Lizards beat the Cedarville Pirates 54-40 on Monday in the first round of the Scranton Tournament. Dardanelle led 12-9 after the first quarter and 27-18 at halftime. After the third quarter, the Sand Lizards led 40-30. Dardanelle was led in scoring by Austin Nash with 18 points. A.J. Calavitta had 10 points. Tyler Kendrick had seven points. Chris Martin scored six points. Dardanelle JB 30, Bigelow 25 DARDANELLE ...

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BY TRAVIS SIMPSON
sports@couriernews.comThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Suns ready for Thursday's GAC tourneyArkansas Tech University has been seeded eighth in the 2017 NCAA Division II Tournament Central Regional for volleyball. The Golden Suns (35-0) will face No. 1 seed and regional host Southwest Minnesota State University (28-3) in a first-round match on Thursday at the SMSU Physical Education Gymnasium in Marshall, Minnesota. First serve is set for 7:30 p.m. Arkansas Tech is ranked No. 8 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association NCAA Divis...

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BY SAM STRASNER
ATU Director of Media RelationsThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Tough opponents await Golden Suns basketball at homeThe Arkansas Tech University women's basketball team, which is midst a 2017-18 season-opening four-game winning streak, resumes Great American Conference (GAC) action this week with a pair of challenging home contests at Tucker Coliseum. The Golden Suns square off against Southwestern Oklahoma State at 5:30 p.m. Thursday before closing out their three-game home stand Saturday versus Northwestern Oklahoma State with a 1 p.m. opening tip off. Sc...

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ATU Athletic CommunicationsThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

CSI names Carter November First Tee Participant of the MonthCourier sports staff Community Service, Inc. (CSI) recently named Noah Carter as the November First Tee Character Development Program Participant of the Month. Carter attends 5th grade at Upper Elementary School and is the son of Reece and Christina Carter. First Tee is coached by certified level II First Tee Coach Sam Taylor. "Noah has shown great determination and perseverance in developing his golf skills in the recent months," Taylor said....

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Courier sports staffThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Lady Pirates get edge on Hector in overtimeHECTOR -- The Dover Lady Pirates edged past the Hector Lady Wildcats on Tuesday inside the Hector Multi-Purpose Building in overtime. Hector led 12-9 after the first quarter and 15-12 at halftime. The Lady Wildcats stayed out front 34-31 at the end of the third quarter, but Dover fought back to tie the score 41-41 at the end of regulation. "Dover was a heck of a team, and we battled hard," Lady Wildcats head coach Luke McAnulty said after the ...

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BY TRAVIS SIMPSON
sports@couriernews.comThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Thanksgiving brings thankfulness for outdoor bountyIt is hard to believe that we are closing the books on yet another Thanksgiving, November and very shortly on 2017. Each year time seems to speed up at a record place, and I often find myself wanting to slow down just a bit so I can enjoy it just a little more. This school year has simply flown by, and Christmas is bearing down on us as well as 2018. I can vaguely remember as a fifth-grader sitting in Mrs. Pat Savage's class putting together a...

Arkansas deer getting bigger and biggerThe total deer harvest year to date is just over 139,000. I'd love to tell you how that compares to last year but the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's (AGFC) "new technology" has pretty much eliminated that possibility because prior year's harvest numbers are not available. The best I could come up with was something I printed two years ago around Dec, 15. According to that info, 190,000 deer had been killed. That pretty much means that in ...

Suns get easy win, force 42 turnoversPoints off turnovers carried Arkansas Tech University to a 92-45 non-conference women's basketball win over Mississippi College at Tucker Coliseum in Russellville on Tuesday night. The Golden Suns (4-0) forced the Lady Choctaws into 42 turnovers and out-scored Mississippi College 51-13 in points off turnovers. With the win, Arkansas Tech secured its fourth 4-0 start in the last five years. Unlike those previous years, a full-court press is the...

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BY SAM STRASNER
ATU Director of Media RelationsThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Little Johns hammered in season-ending lossDANVILLE -- The Little Johns' state championship hopes were dashed 51-6 against the Foreman Gators' ground-and-pound offense on Friday at Little John Stadium. The Gators finished the game with 430 rushing yards. Danville (10-2) trailed 31-6 at halftime. The Little Johns scored on their opening possession, but Foreman (11-1) controlled the field from there. Danville moved the ball 70 yards in seven plays to go up 6-0 with 9:18 left in the first...

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BY TRAVIS SIMPSON
sports@couriernews.comThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

McGehee runs past Red Devils in 3AMCGEHEE -- The host Owls got their running game going and scored three touchdowns in the second quarter en route to a 52-13 win over the Atkins Red Devils in the third round of the Class 3A state playoffs Friday night at Rex Benton Stadium. Atkins (10-3) finished the season in the quarterfinals of the state playoffs for the second straight year. The Red Devils won one more game than the nine games they won in 2016. But McGehee (11-3) capitaliz...

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BY SEAN INGRAM
sean@couriernews.comThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

RSD consolidates middle school teams, hopes for positive resultsBY TRAVIS SIMPSON sports@couriernews.com The Russellville School Board recently voted to unify the athletic programs at Russellville Middle School, but what does that mean going forward? In the past, the Gales were split into a Red Team and a Black Team. The teams were drafted at the start of the year, and coaches worked to make them as even as possible. This resulted in four middle school teams as both the Red and Black teams had B teams to h...

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BY TRAVIS SIMPSON
sports@couriernews.comThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Little Johns host Foreman FridayDANVILLE — The Little Johns have practiced over Thanksgiving break three years in a row. But head coach D.J. Crane has another goal in mind — a state championship. "It's something we always talked about," he said. "If you're playing at Thanksgiving, it means you have a really good football team. We've been fortunate to be able to do it the last three years, but our program has been close for several years to getting to the big game, so we are ...

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BY TRAVIS SIMPSON sports@couriernews.comThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Lady Wildcats cool Atkins Red DevilsBY TRAVIS SIMPSONsports@couriernews.com ATKINS -- The Hector Lady Wildcats thumped the Atkins Lady Red Devils 59-33 on Monday inside Red Devil Gymnasium. Hector led 14-6 after the first quarter and 38-11 at halftime. After the third quarter, the Lady Wildcats were up 44-22. "The rebounding was a huge key tonight," Hector head coach Luke McAnulty said. "Defensively, we were super active and that generated some steals for us that resulted in sco...

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BY TRAVIS SIMPSON
sports@couriernews.comThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley